kingazaz's reviews
32 reviews

The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

hypnotic, fearsome, all-consuming. a transmission from the worst your life has ever been
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

sigh

if you like kvothe. field day
American Gods by Neil Gaiman

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adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This is a bit of a love-it-or-hate-it read, and I suspect the fault line for this one lies where love for the world and the colorful gods starts overcoming (understandable) annoyance with the looseness of the plot and relative lack of protagonist agency. Obviously, I'm on the "love it" end; this is one of the strongest urban fantasy premises I have ever read, and it's so magically realized in this book, in true Gaiman fashion
Judaism: A Very Short Introduction by Norman Solomon

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

An excellent primer on the history and context behind the modern denominations of Judaism. Everything it says on the tin, and very insightful about the more recent changes in practice and what the legacy of Judaism really is
How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann

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adventurous dark emotional funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Pleasantly surprised by this book! Suspiciously YA premise, but goes surprisingly evocative directions with it and respectably well-written across the board. Has more going on than your average fairy-tale modernization that solidly justifies its existence even in a culture awash with them
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory by David Graeber

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funny hopeful informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.75

Extremely readable manifesto for a world less focused on despair and more focused on human beings
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I remain mad about the existence of my literary archnemesis Henry James. For how aggressively lauded Turn of the Screw remains in the horror canon, it quite annoyed me; it's overrated as hell. Elements of Screw are fantastic, like Miles' creepiness and the pacing of the scenes in which the "ghosts" appear, but it feels like less than the sum of its parts. It drags greatly, impressive for a book of this length, does not very convincingly pull off the central ambiguity of the ghosts' existence, and overpromises with the unnecessary framing narrative at the beginning. An object of historical fascination but really nothing too special
Dracula by Bram Stoker

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Finally getting to this classic was a really rewarding experience! The all-timer beginning and ending make up for how much portions of the middle drag, and the characters are startlingly well-realized and animated. Great fun and still pretty easily recommendable, even 120-odd years on
The Changeling by Victor LaValle

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

LaValle has been a juggernaut of literary fantasy/magical realism for a while now, and this is perhaps his novel with the most raw emotive power. Its biggest emotional beats hit with a strength I hadn't felt in a while, and its central plot makes you sympathize incredibly closely with Apollo Kagwa. This novel is a clever, funny, devastating exploration of fatherhood, and it's one of LaValle's strongest works
Weather by Jenny Offill

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

One of those books you need your mom to read even though you can never recommend it to her. It's an agonizingly complex, richly realized look into the author's world, with all of its confusing dead ends, lack of solutions, and small beauties. More conventional and probably an easier read than Dept. of Speculation, but less innovative